Wage freeze for administrators approved; superintendent?s salary stays at $78,000

It was an emotional evening at the Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education meeting, as board members approved a 2003-04 budget which goes into effect July 1 and shows a deficit of $196,000. Board members approved a wage freeze for administrators and nonunion/nonteaching contracts, discussed another drop in student numbers, and heard a passionate plea from student support coordinator Amy Nadolsky whose hours have been drastically cut for the next school year. Nadolsky asked board members to consider not changing her position from fulltime to 2.5 hours a day at the high school.

?I REALIZE CUTS have to come from somewhere,? said Nadolsky, her voice trembling, ?but I wish there could be a way to look at other options for this. As you can see I?m emotional about this.? Fighting back tears, she said it was wrong ?that these cuts come out of what the students need.?

The student support coordinator is available for students who need to talk about issues such as the death of a loved one or suicide. Nadolsky also works with outside agencies. Her concern is, with a reduction in hours, there won?t be anyone there to listen to a student when it?s needed most. In addition to the cut in hours, she no longer will be offered health benefits. The board made no change before the budget was approved.

?WE HAD gone through the fat, we?ve gone through the first layer of skin, and then we were into the meat,? said president Scott McLennan. ?We had a full appreciation, being members of this community, for the actions we are about to recommend.? Leading up to the motion to approve the budget, board member Keith Gordon said,?it is with deep regrets and great pains that I make this motion.?

The district approved general fund revenues of $5,013,80, but expenditures of $5,209,802. The building and site fund and athletic budgets are in the black, while the food services fund is $3,350 in the red. ?This is a very tough time,? said president Scott McLennan. ?We have been very diligent the last couple of years when we saw the budget crisis coming and we have guarded our reserves very, very carefully.?

MCLENNAN SAID the district has tapped into its fund equity because the board doesn?t believe there are any other options without compromising the education of the students. ?We?re focusing on maintaining a quality education and academics for our students, that?s the number one priority,? said McLennan, attending his last regular meeting, ?but also understanding that we have to have a very rounded program for the students.?

?Rogers City Area Schools is certainly, while we are struggling, we are maintaining a strong financial picture for the next year or two,? he added. Due to the uncertainties caused by the cuts in school state aid in 2002-03, the state economy, continued declining enrollment and ongoing negotiations with the unions, superintendent Ed Schultz recommended the administrators? salaries be put on hold for at least a year.

Schultz offered to take the voluntary rollback of his salary, which was set to be $80,000 for 2003-04, in exchange for the granting of a fifth week of paid vacation. ?I?d be in favor of making a motion to support a wage freeze, but not the additional week?s vacation,? said Gordon. That?s what the board approved.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Don Schaedig reported that while projected numbers in the kindergarten are up, overall the figures are down by a half do

zen, from 681 to 675, since February. Kindergarten teacher Kathy Dettloff asked board members to keep an eye on the kindergarten numbers throughout the summer because they are already above last year?s enrollment figures, and there will be one less kindergarten teacher because a kindergarten teacher was laid off.

?Every school is the same way,? said Schultz. ?We?ve always had to deal with uncertainty. Only because the state has financial problems has this become a broader scale interest.? McLennan said the district faces two primary areas of concern: what will happen with state revenues and declining enrollment.

?Are the revenues going to remain intact, or are we going to get hit again, knowing that we already have been hit?? asked McLennan. ?Rogers City remains in a declining enrollment position and that certainly is affecting the dollars coming into our school district.?

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